Heat fans and guys like Plaschke have made such a ridiculous deal out of this idea that we shouldn’t be allowed to hate the Heat, that in the end I’m left to wonder – what the hell does it matter? We’re supposedly wrong because we don’t hate Jason Kidd because he once assaulted his crazy ex-wife. Who said we don’t hate him, too? He just has the convenience of playing against the Heat. But again, it’s the sloppy argument that because we cheer on the Mavs, we’re condoning domestic violence, or statutory rape in the case of DeShawn Stevenson. I’m going to let you in on a secret – calling us racist or telling us that we condone Kidd hitting his wife doesn’t make us hate the Heat any less.

Let us hate. It makes us feel good, and it should make real, honest-to-gosh Heat fans feel good, too. Because our hatred just created one of the best 6-game NBA Finals in history, and our loathing gave the league a huge boost in a time that it desperately needs it.

Instead of calling us haters and crying about all the negative attention, why not just thank us for giving the Heat so much of our time and effort? Why not try acting like the big boy team that Wade set out to create and finally embrace the role of the bad guy? It works for the Yankees and the Lakers and their fans don’t cry about people hating them. They beg people to hate them. Because when they win their championship it makes them so much sweeter.

Join The Discussion

“…which is unfortunate because it wasn’t, at least not to the intelligent mass that I’ve written this for.”

You don’t wanna end a sentence with a preposition

06.13.11 at 12:59 pm

Brandon

@BrahminU – Yeah, a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.

06.13.11 at 1:03 pm

Jesus Chrysler Super Car

@BrahminU – Can we still end sentences with punctuation?

06.13.11 at 1:16 pm

Captain_Insano

Sort of unrelated, but why the fuck did the Heat call a timeout with 18 seconds left when they were down by 12 points? Was it just to piss of Dallas?

06.13.11 at 1:24 pm

Thatsamare

*Standing Ovation*

Well said.

Don’t forget that Bosh pissed of Raptors fans with how poorly he handled his situation too.

06.13.11 at 1:31 pm

Doctor Awesomus

@Thatsamare — Yeah, but they were too polite to say anything.

/hack
//hack hack hack

06.13.11 at 2:09 pm

Danny

As a Clevelander I agree with everything you wrote. I didn’t care who won the title, as long as it wasn’t the Heat. In the East I found myself cheering for teams I’ve despised in the Celtics and Bulls. And in the West I wanted whoever matched up best against the Heat (I didn’t think it was the Mavs but at least they got it done).

Do I wish LeBron had stayed in Cleveland? Absolutely. But he left, and the way he did it has made me a spiteful man. I hate the Miami Heat, and that hate kept me interested in an NBA Playoffs my team had nothing to do with. So I agree that hate in sports can be a good thing.

06.13.11 at 2:10 pm

Later-era Dugout Convert

@BrahminU:

Actually, that whole “don’t end a sentence with a preposition” thing is a rule made up by a guy in I think the seventeenth century in order to make English (a practically-uninflected Germanic language) more similar to Latin (a highly inflected Romance language.) These two languages are drastically different in terms of syntax and morphology, so it’s sort of a silly, quixotic rule, and one that doesn’t need to really be perpetuated any further. Unless you were making a joke and I missed it, in which case ha ha?

06.13.11 at 3:38 pm

Finnegan T. Dressup

By Plaschke’s arbitrary logic, I must have also supported the Mavericks because, like Jason Kidd and Oliver Noble, I’m into broad smacking.

06.13.11 at 4:24 pm

IrishCream

Just when basketball gets interesting again, we’re heading for a long and miserable lockout. Fuck me…

06.13.11 at 7:42 pm

Jacktion!

I never thought in the war of Douchebags vs Texas that I would root for Texas.

My father must be rolling over in his grave.

06.13.11 at 8:00 pm

jhambi

I think I hate Lebron the most of any pro athlete out there right now.

06.13.11 at 9:51 pm

Kal

I am happy for all the leBron non-aficionados out there but, as a Mavs fan, I think most of our vitriole goes in the direction of Wade. Don’t get me wrong…the decision was B.S but, what happened in 06 just game me a lifetimes’ worth of hate for Wade.